NYCAASC 2018: Emergence Workshops

Asian American Feminism: On Navigating Fetishization and Sexualization

GC 274, 4:00 - 5:20

"You're so exotic!" "I love Asian women!" Where did the fetishization and objectification of Asian women come from? How did Asian women get the hypersexualized stereotypes of being docile and submissive or dangerous and seductive? The fetishization of Asian women is rooted in legacies of white sexual imperialism, U.S. militarism, and exclusionary immigration policies. Using a framework of Asian American feminism, this interactive workshop draws on storytelling exercises, media analysis, and historical contexts to examine how sexual stereotypes born from violence and war get reimagined by media and entertainment and reproduced and normalized in everyday contexts, and also concludes with practices for resistance.

Julie Ae Kim

Julie Ae Kim is a NYC based community organizer and activist who is passionate about immigrant inclusion, Asian American feminism, and politics. She is on the board of the National Asian Pacific Women's Forum (NAPAWF) NYC Chapter and on the Steering Committee for Korean Americans for Political Advancement. She is also a MA student in Womenäó»s, Gender, and Sexuality studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. You can reach her on Twitter @julieaekim

Thahitun Mariam

Rachel Kuo

Rachel Kuo is a PhD candidate at New York University in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication. Her research aims to establish the media conditions and material forms that make racial 'solidarity' possible within Asian/American political movements across 'difference' and in relation to other communities of color. Her work has been published in New Media and Society and the Routledge Companion to Asian American Media. She is a founding member of the Center for Critical Race and Digital Studies, a contributing writer at Everyday Feminism, and on the leadership committee for NAPAWF*NYC.